


All in Good Time

by lar_laughs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: humpfest 2011, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-22
Updated: 2011-08-22
Packaged: 2017-10-22 22:29:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius knows he'd be perfect for Alice. Now to convince her of that fact without sending her running even further away than she already is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All in Good Time

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the Humpfest 2011 and is dedicated to **scaratthedisco** , who was the first person to introduce me to this pairing, and to **Aster** , who never fails to inspire me while keeping me firmly in line. Without these two, I wouldn't have ever come to love (and torture) Sirius/Alice.

The room was ablaze with a thousand candles, leaving absolutely no shadow to mar the fun of the crowds of people that had come to drink the Duchess' wine and dance to the strains of the most sought after string ensemble in the country. Sirius didn't care much for the squeaking they called music but there were plenty of people here who thought the Four Dragons were the top of the entertainment hierarchy and would have done anything to be seen at a party where they were performing.

That sort of mob mentality, which normally would have set his teeth on edge, was playing right into his hand. He wouldn't bother telling Lily he'd pilfered a few wallets and fob watches as he'd worked through the crowd. What she didn't know wasn't going to hurt her. As far as she knew, he was here to do one job. He would get the job done, of that he had no fear. Nothing was going to keep him from completing his task. Rent and food for the next month depended on it.

Just as the last strains of the out-of-tune violin filtered through the room, all the candles dimmed and flared back to life once again. Every conversation halted and every gaze lifted to the top of the stairs. Like the grand dame of the ball, a woman stepped down a step and waited, as if she were making sure that all eyes were on her. On cue, a shiver of magic flowed over her. It was a security precaution that everyone had been put through before they'd come fully into the room. In this day and age, a masquerade was all well and good but people could hide just about anything under some of the costumes that some people had come up with. For the barest of moments, the gown she was wearing became translucent. Nothing under there but what Mother Nature had granted her.

The porcelain mask that mimicked the upper part of her face also disappeared but he didn't need to see her true face to know that she was beautiful. Her lips were naturally plump and the sparkle in her eyes was still there when the magic was muted. The only reason for the mask was because it was required. She, of all the women present, didn't need the subterfuge to make everyone in the room stop and stare. She could have walked in the room clad in one of those horrid dress robes that had long gone out of fashion except with the geriatric set and still been the most beautiful woman here.

With a grin, Sirius watched as the beauty came down the stairs. This would be considered a waste of time from his teammates across the room but he didn't care. He was going to take this time to imprint the way her heavy dress moved against her body as she finished walking down the stairs and the way her hand barely touched the bannister as she made her way down to the dance floor. When her feet touched the floor, he began moving.

"May I have this dance?" Sirius asked, his hand outstretched.

The flashing in her eyes could only be angry as her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Who do you think you are-"

"I'm just a man... asking if you want to dance. It's a simple enough question." He shook his outstretched hand to get her attention once again. "Yes or no."

"I don't have time for this and," she looked over his shoulder at the rest of the guests, "neither do you."

They were clearly making a scene, standing at the base of the stairs without moving away to blend with the crowd. Not that Sirius cared by this point. The only thing he wanted, at the moment, was to be able to lead this woman out to the floor and move against her in the only way that was allowed in a public venue. This close, he could smell the delicate scent wafting from her up-swept hair and see the seven different colours that made up her irises.

"I have all the time in the world. You're the one who looks like she needs to be somewhere." When she tried moving around him, he countered with his own movement so that he was still in front of her. "Just one dance, princess."

She narrowed her eyes so that he could barely tell what colour they were any longer. As irritated as he knew her to be, he could see that she was as equally interested. Oh, yes. His proposal was one she was considering. Instead of letting her make the decision, he took hold of her hand. With nothing more than a suggestion, she was following after him so that they faced each other once again in the middle of the room.

"You really should-"

He put a finger over her lips. "I only ask for one dance and then I'll leave you for whatever you think it is that I should be doing. One dance."

"One dance." The feel of her lips against his finger sent an instant charge to other parts of his body that had no interest in dancing. As if she knew the effect she had on him, the very tip of her tongue came out, tracing over the pad of his finger before she nipped at the skin with sharp, white teeth. If she had decided to walk away at that moment, he wouldn't have been physically able to run after her. Instead, he memorized the colours of her irises as he struggled to find the tempo of the useless notes floating through the air.

It was only when she started moving that he was able to remember what dancing was supposed to be like. The material of the dress bunched up between them, leaving him thoroughly unsatisfied, but he didn't mind in the least that she'd narrowed the margin between them. In fact, there were other parts of her body that he could feel quite well, even covered by the elaborate dress. Her breasts pressed against his chest in the most inviting way as she convinced him to move his feet from side to side in a vague satire of a waltz.

"Have you ever done this before?" she hissed, her lips drawing down into a frown.

"Many times. Just never with you. I am completely undone by your presence."

"If you keep this up, this will be the only chance you ever get at this."

Hope sprang up at her words, along with other, more tangible, things about his person. "Then I shall dazzle you for the chance at being able to do this again with you."

Before she had a chance to respond back with some scathing comment that would cut him back down to size, he swept her into a series of dizzying circles that only ended when he'd finished clearing the dance floor around them once more. This worked in his favour because there were things he wanted to say to her and he didn't trust himself to keep his voice at a whisper.

"Show off," she murmured as she clung to him for support.

His smile was brilliant as he imagined that he finally had a chance. "Only for you, love. Tell me you feel something more than just a rolling stomach. Tell me I'm not the only one who wishes we didn't need to be here tonight."

"What does it matter? We're here and there's nothing we can do about it. Best to just get on with it."

"Tell me, Alice. Tell me you have feelings for me other than utter disdain."

Because she had always been much more level-headed than he was, Alice started to move again, as if the music was all she cared about. For a instant, Sirius thought he might have gone too far. They were business associates. Nothing more. All he'd been asked to do was meet her at the bottom of the stairs and take the final piece that she offered. He was then supposed to make his way back across the room where Remus was waiting to fit everything together. From there, his job was over and he was to leave immediately or chance getting caught in the resulting pandemonium. He'd never liked that part of the plan because it left everyone else without someone watching their back as they went after the contents of the vault. For this job, he'd been relegated to courier. He didn't mind except for the pity he'd seen in Alice's eyes, as if she knew about the dressing down Severus had given him over the way the last job had gone down.

This would earn him another "reminder" of what he'd signed up for but he didn't care. If it hadn't been for this gang of thieves, he never would have met Alice. For that, he was eternally grateful. Now he needed to use every moment at his disposal to find ways to bind her to him before they discovered a way to get rid of him from the group. He knew Lily was the only reason he'd been given this chance. That and his ability to charm any woman under the age of one hundred and twenty. The problem was that he didn't want to be "the flirt" any longer.

He wanted Alice. Mind and body, soul and spirit. He wanted nothing but those lips against his and those legs wrapped around him. Until now, she only scoffed.

"Will it help if I just say yes? That way you can move on because you've finally had the one girl who hasn't dropped her drawers for you? Would that get your mind back on what you and I are here to do? You may not need the payoff but I do. Not all of us have a rich Mummy and Daddy to go home to at the end of the night."

"My family disowned me," he reminded her with a narrowing of his own eyes. "Or don't you remember? Seems you were the one who had to heal most of my injuries that night."

"All you'd have to do is come crawling home and they'd take you back. Don't try to make me feel sorry for you, Black. Some of us have never had the advantages you've had. Everything I have today, I _fought_ for. Do you even understand that?" When he didn't answer right away, she pulled away. "That's what I thought. Just leave, Black. I can finish this part easily enough. I'm already out of place as it is."

***

Hours later, the crew gathered at the designated meeting place. No part of this job had gone like it should, not even what they found in the safe. Instead of the jewelry they'd been promised, there was nothing but a stack of papers in a language that not even Remus recognised. All their careful planning was for nothing, not to mention the money they'd all put out in hopes of getting a huge payoff at the end.

Sirius had already had his arse handed to him but he wasn't feeling the irritation and anger he normally felt after one of Sev's dialogues. He was keenly aware of his failings without having to have them listed out for him. Alice's silences did a better job of making him wish he'd been more of a help than a hindrance.

"Maybe it's some sort of map to the jewels. Like a list of instructions how to get there." Lily was trying to keep everyone's spirits up but even her perpetual good mood couldn't help. Every time she offered a suggestion, people were starting to groan, even with Severus glaring at them for their impertinence toward his girl.

Remus just shook his head at the suggestion, throwing the papers onto the rug in the middle of the room. "It's rubbish. Nothing more. We'll just... move on to the next job."

"There can't be a next job. Or have you forgotten we don't have the money to move on?" Alice stood with her back to the group as if she really cared about warming up in front of the fire. Not that Sirius was complaining. In this spot, all her best bits were highlighted by the only light in the darkened room.

As always, an argument ensued. Remus wanted to sell their services to Malfoy's family while Severus reminded him that the penalty for botching those sorts of jobs was death and they didn't have the best record when it came to wins. Alice and Lily both stayed silent. Something caught Sirius' eye as he turned back to watch the woman in front of the fire. He did a double take of one of the sheets that wasn't settling down as quickly as the others. Grabbing it up, he looked at the different characters with new eyes.

"I know how we can get some money." When no one looked at him, he waved the papers, trying to cause a big enough ruckus to get some attention. It wasn't until he tried yelling that anyone even paid him any mind. "Hey, do you want money or don't you?"

Severus was the first to figure out what Sirius was going on about. That wasn't a surprise. For all that Severus acted like he wasn't paying attention, he normally heard each and every word that was uttered and then put it into context before anyone else realized that something had been said. That wasn't the only reason everyone hated him. There was also the fact that he was a complete arse to most everyone but Lily, who seemed to think every word out of his mouth was genius. Sirius didn't really care who Lily liked but it was aggravating that it had to be Severus Snape. The only worse possibility would be someone like... well, like James Potter. That sniveling coward worked for the Malfoys, another reason not to crawl to them for employment.

"Why do you suddenly have a plan when you didn't two minutes ago?"

He held up the paper once again. "I hadn't seen this two minutes ago. All these strange characters are actually a code. I've seen it before in my father's study. It's a map." Lily let out a sound of triumph as her original idea was proving to be true. "Only problem is that it needs... well, it needs a key."

"And?" Severus asked, clearly thinking this explanation was going nowhere.

"Here's how this is going to go down. Sev, I need your knife." He held out his hand to the taller man, not flinching when the knife was slapped into his palm with more force than necessary. After positioning the sheet of parchment on a small table that he dragged to the middle of the room, Sirius waved everyone closer. "Remus, you'll need to get over here close and read any instructions that are given. Lily, you draw the best of any of us. You'll have about two minutes to get the map on paper once it appears."

"What about me? Don't you have an assignment for me?" Alice leaned in so she could see the paper that was suddenly so important. "I'm part of this group so I should have something to do."

Sirius didn't need much more of an opening. "Oh, your assignment is the hardest of them all. You're going to catch me when I faint and then mop my fevered brow. I'd appreciate a kiss to wake me up but that's optional."

"Why are you going to faint?"

He took a deep breath as he held his arm up. "Because I'm going to do this." After steadying himself with another deep breath, Sirius sank the knife into his vein.

***

Sirius woke up, swinging. Something, or someone, was attacking him. It was only when he opened his eyes and saw Alice in front of him that he stopped trying to protect himself from his assailant. "What are you doing?"

Alice wiped at the blood seeping from her split lip. "I was attempting to wake you up with a kiss but it seems that you have a problem with personal space while you're sleeping."

"I... I guess I didn't figure you'd ever actually do it. It was just one of those things I figured I would only ever experience in an actual dream." He pulled her hand away so he could see the damage. As injuries went, it wasn't bad but it bothered him that he'd inflicted this kind of damage on someone he loved. Or thought he could love if she'd give him a chance. Not much chance of that now.

"Yeah, well," but she never finished what she was saying. Instead, she blotted at her mouth with her sleeve as she leaned back against his bent legs. It concerned him that she wasn't screaming or, worse, telling him what a horrible person he was. In fact, it was the oddness of the situation that had him believing that this wasn't a dream.

He pulled her sleeve away to make sure that it didn't need to be healed but it was already closing on its own. "Did they get everything they needed?"

"Enough. They've gone after what they found, leaving me to drag you up here all by myself."

Now that he had a chance to look around, Sirius saw that he was on a small bed in an even smaller room. There was very little space left over for anything other than the foot locker and a pile of books on a bedside table. As rooms went, it was more of a closet. "This is where you live?"

She shrugged. "Top of the stairs. Third door. Not everyone has a family to run home to each night."

"Neither do I," Sirius growled, thoroughly irritated that this was coming up in a conversation yet again. "It's just that my closet is bigger than this one. My actual closet. I'd let you bunk there. It's not like I have many clothes."

"Liar."

He reacted to the word before he realized that her tone had been mocking him. When she'd recovered from having her backrest pulled out from behind her, Alice stood up. There weren't many places she could go without actually leaving the room. When she didn't, he patted the bed again. "Sorry about that. I'm just... not used to this kind of conversation. Most of the time I get stuck trying to talk to Severus like I actually care about what he has to say."

"It could be worse." Alice settled back against his legs. "I have to listen to Lily talk about Severus as if I care about what he has to say. We really need to get another girl around here."

"Or... we could hang out more."

Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door. Remus started pounding harder, hollering for Alice when she didn't open the door fast enough. With a sigh, she stood up. In three steps, she was at the door but Remus had already started an unlocking spell.

"Come quick," he gasped out as he stumbled in the room. "We found the stash but there's a curse attached. If I read the instructions right, we're going to need your blood again."

"Why my blood?"

"It's the right kind."

"Right kind of what?" Sirius asked, thoroughly confused and still a little disappointed that he hadn't been able to keep the conversation with Alice moving forward. At this rate, he was going to get that second kiss somewhere in the next century.

"Black blood. We need your blood to break the curse."

Sirius knew he wasn't hearing something correctly. Surely they hadn't... but then why would they need his blood? Dear, merciful Hera. Had he unlocked the map for his family vault? This wasn't good. This wasn't good, at all.

***

Every bone in his body hurt, keeping Sirius awake even though he desperately needed to sleep. He'd given out more pints of blood lately than he'd intended to give when he'd woken up with the sun yesterday morning. That, combined with the exertion of releasing Severus and Lily from the prison of his family's vault, was making him ache for sleep. Besides, his room was suddenly too big as he remembered how small Alice's had been.

There was time to make things right tomorrow. After sleeping. Too bad he was busy aching and not dreaming.

The door cracked open, spilling light into the otherwise darkened room. "Sirius? Are you asleep?"

"Alice?"

When the door closed, he thought that he'd scared her off by not being asleep. When he heard her whispered, "Lumos," he let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Do you need something, Alice?"

"I wanted to see if you really meant what you said today."

"About staying in my closet?" The thought of her sleeping in amoungst his shirts was enough to make his body respond. Too bad he hadn't just offered her his bed. That would have cleared up the confusion of what he'd actually meant when the offer of his room had come up. "If you really want to, you can but-"

The light snuffed out and the bed moved. A body settled against his. A body that was no longer clothed. His hand had landed on something that felt suspiciously like a hip. Alice's hip. Alice's bare hip that was covered with the softest skin he'd ever felt. "No, not the closet. About that dream. And you wanting more from me than what you think I'm prepared to give you. The thing is... well, I'd stay in your closet but I'd rather stay right here."

A gift. He'd been given a gift. There was time to clear any misunderstanding up tomorrow, if there really was any. Tonight he was being given an unwrapped girl who wanted to do more than kissing, if that roving hand was any indication of her intent. He shoved the thin blanket down, bringing her flush against his own body.

"Will it hurt your lip if I kiss you?" His mouth was so close to hers that the question didn't really matter. Especially not with her hand roving down toward his thickening cock. Alice was a girl who knew what she wanted. If he was what she wanted, then who was he to tell her no after all this time of chasing after her? Something he had said must have finally struck home.

When she gasped, he thought he really might have hurt her but she wouldn't let him pull back. Taking the matter into his own hands, he flipped her over so that he was the one on top and could lever himself away from her for a minute. It was impossible to actually see anything in the darkened room but he had an idea of what he would see if there was light. When he pressed his lips to her cheek, he could taste the salt of her tears.

"Why?" he asked, his body telling him to shut up and just let this happen. After all this time, he should have been rejoicing to have Alice in his bed, tears and all. The problem was that he didn't want Alice to be here unless she wanted to be here. He brushed away the tears with his lips, wanting to sooth more than just this unsettled emotion. "Why're you crying?"

"It's just... I promised myself I wouldn't do this. And then there was all the blood. All your blood." She moved so their lips were together, rubbing her lips against hi as if she was just assuring herself he was still there. "I've got a family to support. My mum's been sick and there's no one else to take care of her. This isn't about me. Do you think I'd do this job if I had any other options? I'd rather dance."

"With me? I was that good?"

She smiled, which was exactly what he'd intended when he'd interrupted. "Not that kind of dance, although you were better once you stopped thinking about your feet. The kind of dancing that people do alone. Well, not all the time but... I'm off topic again."

"How about this topic?" He shifted so that he was stretched out on the bed next to her, his arms keeping her securely in place. At first, she put up a fight but he nipped at the skin of her shoulder. She stiffened, surprise driving all other thoughts out of her head so that he was able to pull her next to him. When they were settled, he started up the conversation again. "Tell me what dancing make you feel. Why do you do it?"

By the time she yawned and let her words trail off as sleep became too irresistible, Sirius was completely smitten. He'd never had any idea that Alice was a dancer but now he saw a side of her that made her human and not just a beautiful mystery. Now he understood that he really couldn't live without her. Tucking her more securely against his side, he fell asleep with the smell of her hair playing havoc with his system.

When, the next morning, he found himself alone in his bed, he didn't get angry. It was understandable that she'd run after all she'd shared last night. Being vulnerable wasn't something either of them was good at. He crossed his hands under his head and contemplated his ceiling. Turnabout was only fair. He was still in the game.

***

The room was lit with only about twenty candles and even their flickering light couldn't reach all the corners of the cavernous room. The music was low but it wasn't important for this dance. Alice could have performed the whole thing in dead silence, if she'd needed to. She knew it was setting Sirius' teeth on edge to hear this particular song but it was important to have it be this version of _Waft on a Breeze_ by the Four Dragons. The one with the squeaky violin because he always complained the lack of musicality as if he could do any better. It was their song, though. The one they danced to two years ago at the Masquerade Ball.

"Come, dance with me," she coaxed, holding out her hand after she went through the steps twice. It was a frustratingly long song but that was all part of the plan.

Sure enough, he came out from the shadows without any difficulty but didn't make it more than a minute before he was letting his lips drift along the long line of her neck. Another thirty seconds and his hand went in search of the spot on the underside of her breast that made her gasp whenever he smoothed his thumb over it just so. By the last strain of music, their clothes were in a pile that she was using to keep the hard floor from bruising her hips. Their moves were well choreographed, each of them knowing just where to touch to get the desired results. He liked it when she feathered her fingers over his erection, delicate little touches that were barely more than the ghost of what would happen once he slid into her aching core. When he settled into a rhythm, his mouth found her breast and she arched under him, trying to bring closer.

That wasn't to say that they didn't try new things but tonight was about what had gotten them to this point. The tried and true caresses they'd spent these years learning as they'd built a relationship. Not only a relationship but a fulfillment of a two-fold calling. She had her dance studio, paid for with what Sirius would always consider his inheritance, even if he'd had to split it five ways. Six months ago, her mother had passed on but she'd done so in the comfort of a real home, not something small and cramped, rented for twice what it was really worth.

Sirius did the odd job, now and then, for their old crew, but nothing that kept him away from Alice for too long. He and Remus were talking about refining the new spells they'd come up for things like securing locks so they stayed locked and alerting people when perimeters were breached. The old ways just weren't cutting it any longer. Malfoy and his gang were edging into their territory, botching more jobs than they were completing and giving crooks a bad rap. They weren't robbers so much as security agents these days. Lily was behind the new idea, seeing as she was getting too big to fit into most of her old disguises. Pregnancy had a way of changing a body shape that not even a spell could help.

"Who'd have thought, two years ago, that we'd be legitimate," Alice whispered into the skin of his jaw as they lay, panting, on the dance floor. "I certainly didn't."

He didn't say anything for the longest time, until she thought he might be having second thoughts on the whole thing. "Legitimate because we're not really stealing things from clueless people anymore?"

"No, silly." She nipped at his skin to get his attention. "Because you finally said you'd marry me."

He levered himself so that he was staring down at her. There were shadows along the contours of his face. "No, you said you'd finally marry _me_ , if I remember correctly. But I always knew I'd break you down."

"All in good time," she whispered before giving him a good reason to get back to the business they'd been about before talking had gotten in the way.


End file.
